How Ethereum Applications Earn A+ Security Ratings

More than 1.2 million ethereum applications have used a little-known security tool to help them avoid the costly errors arising from self-executing lines of code known as smart contracts.

Launched by ethereum technology startup Amberdata back in October, the free tool is available for anyone in the general public to interpret the security of active applications on the ethereum blockchain. Smart contracts with bugs that have been exploited have led to huge losses, even to the tune of hundreds of millions.

The automated service scans for common vulnerabilities found in smart contract code and generates a letter grade rating (e.g. A, B, or C) for the security of a decentralized application (dapp).

The feature is one of the many tools encouraging best practice and increased transparency between dapp developers and end-users in the ethereum ecosystem.

What’s more, it’s a feature that has been around in the broader web space for quite some time. Privacy-minded browser DuckDuckGo recently launched a Chrome browser extension used to rate websites (not dapps) with a letter grade, giving users an easy insight into how well or poorly service administrators protect user privacy.

“Our vision is to raise the standard of trust online,” writes DuckDuckGo in a blog post from January 2017.

Similarly, the vision behind Amberdata’s security grading tool, as highlighted by Amberdata CEO Shawn Douglass in a press release, is to provide “greater access and enhanced visibility into smart contracts.”

He added:

“We hope that by providing these tools to the community, we can reduce outside dependencies and enable the community to develop faster and more safely.”

The ratings

But how exactly are these applications on ethereum rated on Amberdata?